Finance Globe

Sound decisions are the key to having a healthy financial life – to building wealth, paying off or staying out of debt, and to building a good credit score. Even the small, day-to-day money decisions have a big impact on your finances, so it’s important that you make the right ones. Always ask yourself whether you can afford a purchase before you make it. Affording something isn’t necessarily about having the money for it. You have...

As part of a settlement with the FDIC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Discover is required to refund about $200 million to cardholders who enrolled in credit protection plans by phone. Payment protection plans charge a small monthly fee, sometimes a percentage of your credit card balance, and promises to cover your minimum payment if you lose your job or become unemployed. You could go months or years, pay hundreds or thousands of dollars, without...

When we use our credit cards, we trust the businesses swiping our cards to charge the correct amount. But, don’t get so comfortable that you forget to check your credit card statement to confirm that the amount on your statement matches what you were supposed to be charged. A finger slip or computer glitch could lead to inaccurate charges on your billing statement. Don’t panic if you spot these. If you act quickly, you can take...

Credit limits can be deceiving. While they do represent the maximum amount your credit card issuer will let you charge, it’s not necessarily the amount you should charge. In fact, your credit card balance should never meet, and certainly not exceed, your credit limit. Having a big balance on your credit card is risky. Repayment Difficulties One of the most important rules of using a credit card is that you should never charge more than you...

A recent survey conducted by the FDIC shows that 25% of American households lack a savings account. You can certainly save money outside a savings account – by stacking the cash in a safe place or by leaving it in a checking account - but having a savings account has several benefits that those without an account may not realize. Your money is safer in certain savings accounts. If you’re saving money under a mattress and...

Reading about credit scores often can make you paranoid. You probably already know that credit scores are important for many of your financial moves – even those that don’t involve borrowing. Because your score is changing all the time, you might feel the need to check it all the time. However, keeping up with your credit score, especially your FICO score can get expensive and time-consuming. Instead of checking your credit score all the time, just...

If you’re looking for money to pay off your debt or accomplish another big financial goal, you may consider the funds you’ve put in your IRA or individual retirement account. Be care, depending on the type of IRA, your age, and how long you’ve had the account, you may have to pay penalties on money you take from the IRA. Once you put your money in an IRA, a traditional IRA at least, you’re expected to...

In the world of finances, your credit report is one of the most important documents because it contains so much information about your financial habits. Your credit report is pulled from a database to which most, if not all, your creditors have reported data on your accounts. A business that pulls your credit report at a given time can tell: When you opened your first accountHow many accounts you’ve openedHow timely you’ve paid on those accountsHow...

Saving isn’t easy. It’s especially hard when you try to save what’s left over after you’ve paid all your other expenses. For one, you may not have much money left over after paying bills. And after spending all your money on life’s necessities, you may not feel motivated to put money in savings. You’d probably much rather enjoy what you have left. That’s why many financial experts recommend the “pay yourself first” method of saving money....

If you’ve incurred unexpected financial emergency, but don’t have an emergency fund or sufficient credit to bail you out, you might be tempted to take out a title loan. Be careful, these loans are one of the most predatory types of loans on the market, even worse than the infamous payday loans. A title loan is like a mix between a pawn and a payday loan. You can take out a loan using your vehicle as...